KUALA LUMPUR: HE had reportedly amassed millions of ringgit, had a lavish lifestyle and could even afford to own a factory processing drinking water.

Those are among the secrets of the Perlis Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) director, who is at the centre of investigations over alleged graft and abuse of power.

Kedah Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) director Datuk Mohd Fauzi Mohamad said based on initial investigations, the 60-year-old man was believed to have amassed millions of ringgit in kickbacks from contractors since 2014.

He said the director, who is under remand till Monday, also allegedly owned a factory processing drinking water in Perlis from the wealth he had amassed.

“Our initial investigations showed that the director not only owns a bungalow and luxury cars, but also a factory processing drinking water in Perlis.

“He had amassed millions of ringgit, which we suspect are kickbacks received from the contractors since assuming the post in 2014,” Fauzi said.

He said to date, the number of individuals arrested remain at three: the DID director, his son and an owner of a company.

Fauzi said MACC had obtained a new lead, but declined to elaborate as it would jeopardise investigations.

It was reported that MACC has frozen 17 bank accounts worth RM4 million belonging to the director, his children and a company owner.

Fauzi was also quoted as saying that preliminary investigations revealed that the director had allegedly accumulated kickbacks worth about RM5 million from 2014 to last year.

It was reported that the DID director had been living lavishly since 2014 from kickbacks he has received from contractors awarded with projects by the department in the state.

An MACC source had revealed that the director, who is due to retire in May, had pocketed 10 per cent of the projects’ cost since 2014.

Meanwhile, the frustrations for failing to secure contracts from Perlis DID was believed to be the main motivation why disgruntled parties lodged reports against the director.

A source claimed that another major factor was claims that only selected contractors were awarded contracts by Perlis DID.

“Perhaps, they want justice to be done upon noticing that the same people were awarded with contracts by DID over and over again,” said the source.

He, however, declined to comment on the possible kickback arrangements between the director and the contractors.

“There are claims that the director had been pocketing 10 per cent of kickbacks from DID projects between 2014 and last year, as reported in media recently.

“There are also rumours that the director had failed to pay contractors despite receiving allocations from the DID headquarters, but only MACC could confirm this.”